The Canadian Press
OTTAWA–Eleven tolls from the Peace Tower filled the air around Parliament Hill this morning, marking the start of two minutes of silence as Canadians paused to remember and honour those who took up arms–and in some cases paid the ultimate price–to defend this country and its way of life.
Similar scenes played out across the country at cenotaphs and memorials as the clock struck the 11th hour on Remembrance Day.
A crowd of thousands lined the wind-swept streets around the National War Memorial in Ottawa for the national ceremony.
They arrived early, standing and watching a parade of veterans arrayed before the monument unveiled 80 years ago by King George VI.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gen. Julie Payette were among those laying wreaths in memory of those who died serving Canada.
Also present for the morning’s national ceremony was this year’s Silver Cross Mother, Reine Samson Dawe, whose youngest son, Capt. Matthew Dawe, was killed in Afghanistan in 2007.
She was to lay a wreath during the ceremony on behalf of all Canadian mothers who have lost children to war.
This year’s Remembrance Day ceremony follows a major ceremony in France earlier this year marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day, when thousands of Canadian stormed the beaches of Normandy with their British and American allies to fight Nazi Germany.
It also comes exactly 101 years after the end of the First World War.
